BY JEFF CATE (TEAM FYN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR) – Marion County and Sequatchie County entered their highly anticipated matchup at Bill Baxter Stadium in Jasper with 1 loss combined between them (Sequatchie County last week vs. South Pittsburg) and what everyone thought would be a back-and-forth fight between these programs. Well one shade of purple was more prevalent on this Friday night: the Warriors set the tone in the first half, scoring all 45 points in this game in the first 24 minutes on their way to a 45-0 victory.

Marion County scored on their first possession on a 53-yard pass from Tilton Pickett to Sam Pickett on 4th and 2, taking a 7-0 lead over the Indians just over 2 minutes into the game. The Warriors defense gave everyone a glimpse into the night they would have on Sequatchie County’s first possession when they got pressure up front and sacked Indians’ quarterback Sam Evitts on 3rd down. Marion County got the ball back and went on a 10-play drive that consisted mainly runs from Pickett, Brody Leonard, and Ashton Martin to get inside the 10-yard line. The drive stalled out but Marion County got points on a 30-yard Leo Polovin field goal, pushing the Warriors’ lead to 10-0 with 4:33 left in the first quarter. Marion County’s defense made another big play on the Indians’ next possession when they got pressure again on Evitts, who fumbled and Martin recovered for the Warriors. It didn’t take long for Marion County to continue their first quarter domination, EJ Wilson popped off a 54-yard run on the very next play which gave the Warriors a 17-0 lead that they would take into the second quarter.

Leonard would give his team a boost, getting 78 total yards on the Warriors’ first possession of the second quarter which ended on a 1-yard TD run to extend the Marion County lead to 24-0 barely a minute into the second quarter. Another 3 and out from Sequatchie County led to another scoring drive from the Warriors, Pickett scored his second touchdown of the half on a 13-yard run and Marion County led 31-0 with 7:20 left in the second quarter. Marion County’s defense forced another 3 and out, giving their offense another chance to add to their lead which they would take advantage of. Runs by Leonard, Martin, and Taylor Scharber got the Warriors into the red zone and Leonard scored his second touchdown of the quarter on a 19-yard run on 4th and 1. Marion County led 38-0 with 2:30 left in the first half and Sequatchie County was looking to get out of the half and look to regroup. The Warriors put an exclamation point to the dominating first half when Lennox Williamson blocked a Indians’ punt, picked it up, and ran it in for a touchdown. The Warriors’ lead was 45-0 at halftime and that would be the final score. There was no scoring in the second half and the running clock /”mercy rule” was the main story of the half.

Marion County recorded 6 sacks on the evening, held Evitts to 50 yards passing and Sequatchie County to 32 yards of total offense (-17 rushing yards) while the Warriors had 462 yards of total offense. “We knew we had to great pressure to him (Evitts)” Marion County head coach Tim Starkey said. “That’s what we did. We worked on it all week, we did a good job of that and this is the outcome”.

Sequatchie County (3-2) dropped their second game in a row with the loss, will host Coalfield next week. Marion County (5-0) remains unbeaten on the year and will hit the road next week to take on Brainerd.

Follow Jeff on “X” at @TheJeffCate.